Valvano to call harness race at Cumberland

CORBIN, KY. — Broadcaster Bob Valvano is the radio color analyst for the University of Louisville men’s basketball and national games on ESPN as well as a sports-talk host on ESPN 680/105.7. But now he’s hot to trot to get behind a different microphone: Calling a harness racing dash at Cumberland Run this Sunday.

Cumberland Run’s 20-day meet continues this Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, then concluding Nov. 3, 4 and 5. Admission and parking are free.

Since Cumberland Run opened for its inaugural Standardbred meet last year, Valvano has wanted to call a trotting or pacing race at the five-eighths of a mile track in southeastern Kentucky. It finally came together for Sunday for a yet-to-be-determined race at the track carved out of a foothill in the Appalachian Mountains.

“I’m pretty wired about this whole thing,” said Valvano, speaking with Kentucky Downs and Cumberland Run Vice President of Racing Ted Nicholson on his sports-talk show Thursday. “It should be a lot of fun. And whether I was doing a race or not, I’m really eager to see the place. I grew up on harness racing. I lived not more than 10 minutes from Roosevelt Raceway, which was the mecca of harness racing for a long time. Yonkers wasn’t far, and then The Meadowlands opened. I’m really looking forward to this.”

While the original plan was for Valvano was to call a race with a short field, every race Sunday has eight horses, a full gate in harness racing. When Valvano expressed some nervousness, Nicholson joked: “It’s just eight horses. It’s not like it’s a 12-horse field.”

To which Valvano responded: “That’s like the definition of minor surgery: That’s surgery performed on someone else. But it should be fun. At this stage of my life, when you get to do a Walter Mitty thing, I’m very blessed.”

The New York-raised Valvano coached basketball for 19 seasons, the last four at Louisville’s Bellarmine University before entering broadcasting full time in 1998. His “ESPN V Show” is heard weekdays noon-3 p.m. ET with streaming at espnlouisville.com and the ESPN Louisville app and on the TuneIn and iHeart apps.

Valvano, along with other shows on ESPN 680/105.7, annually broadcasts at least one weekday during Kentucky Downs’ live meet.

Valvano also is active with the V Foundation for Cancer Research, founded by ESPN and his late brother Jim Valvano, and is co-founder and chair of the Louisville-based non-profit Kentuckiana Friends of V. KFOV raises money for cancer research and related projects in the region, including Monday’s Golfing Against Cancer fund-raising golf tournament at the University of Louisville Golf Club to benefit a pediatric oncology project with Norton Children’s Hospital.

From Cumberland Run